GSV Ventures is a global venture capital fund focused on the rapidly growing digital education market from Pre-K to Gray. We back early and late stage entrepreneurs transforming the $7 trillion digital education and future of work sectors. Investments include Coursera, ClassDojo, Degreed, and Guild Education. GSV is also the convener of the world renowned ASU+GSV Summit. The 11th annual summit gathered 35,000 founders, investors, educators, and policy makers from 135 countries.

GSV Ventures

PHX Ventures

Founded in 2020, Hillside Ventures is an early-stage venture fund supporting companies either founded by UConn alumni or that are in the sustainability, insurtech, or edtech industries. Hillside provides students real world venture capital experience as they invest into startups while receiving mentorship and guidance from a panel of expert alumni. The fund's mission is to support the rapid growth of entrepreneurship at the University, engage diverse personal and professional backgrounds, pave the way for students heading towards private capital and present many other opportunities that would otherwise not be available from the undergraduate level.

Hillside Ventures

K Street Capital (KSC) is a Washington, DC-based venture capital firm founded in 2012 that supports the development of high-potential entrepreneurs with both a seed-stage venture fund and a 100-member syndicate. KSC boasts the largest greater-DC region angel network whose syndicate  investor-members and Fund LPs are c-suite business leaders and owner/founders in the highest levels of government, media, technology, and finance. Over the past 10 years, KSC has invested $11 million in over 70 portfolio companies and funds, 50% of which are based in DC, and 42% of which are led by women or BIPOC founders. We aim to turn the Washington, DC region into the nation’s greatest exemplar of a venture capital hub that integrates diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout its ecosystem to build a community of founders, funders, and companies that are tech-forward and thriving.

K Street Capital

Intellispark

Intellispark helps schools to maximize student achievement through a data-driven, community-centered approach to student advising. Their team includes experienced education and technology leaders who are passionate about ensuring every child has the chance to make a difference.

Founded in 2017 by Stephen Smith and Shaun Fanning, Intellispark aims to provide a holistic platform to coordinate student support services in PreK-12 schools. Smith and Fanning previously co-founded Naviance, a college and career readiness platform now offered by PowerSchool. Intellispark seeks to make student success a community effort, connecting teachers, administrators, counselors, families, and community resources. The platform was launched to the public in May 2020, following two years of development and testing. As of April 2021, the company had member schools in 39 states and 10 countries.

Remote learning is driving an education technology revolution.

EdTech: K-12

Xello Announces Partnership with Intellispark to Further Support Student Success

Founded in 2017 by Stephen Smith and Shaun Fanning, Intellispark aims to provide a holistic platform to coordinate student support services in PreK-12 schools. Smith and Fanning previously co-founded Naviance, a college and career readiness platform now offered by PowerSchool. Intellispark seeks to make student success a community effort, connecting teachers, administrators, counselors, families, and community resources. The platform was launched to the public in May 2020, following two years of development and testing. As of April 2021, the company had member schools in 39 states and 10 countries.In April 2021, Intellispark acquired ScholarCentric, a social-emotional learning and resiliency program, from Graduation Alliance. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of May 2021. ScholarCentric will be incorporated into the company’s student success platform as the Intellispark SEL &amp; Resiliency Program which will be available to all ScholarCentric and Intellispark users in the summer of 2021.The company’s last funding event was in June 2020 when it raised USD 2.3 million in seed money for product development, marketing strategy development, and leadership hires.

Founded in 2016, BookNook is an online literacy platform designed for learners in grades 1-5. Partnering with school districts and non-profit organizations, the company focuses on human-to-human learning and works with children one-on-one or in small groups, enabling it to gather rich, observational data. As of June 2021, the company partnered with hundreds of schools, school districts, and non-profits across 35 states.BookNook differs from other digital literacy tools by not requiring students to take formative assessments to check for their understanding. Rather, the platform lets teachers record qualitative data on oral fluency, such as whether a student pauses at punctuation marks as they read aloud, or reads in set phrases. Students can also record self-reflections on the platform.In June 2021, the company partnered with MIND Research Institute, a neuroscience and education social impact organization and creator of the PreK-8 visual instructional program ST Math, to deliver a High Dosage Tutoring program (HDT) for math to K-8 students to address unfinished learning. BookNook tutors will deliver tutoring sessions using the ST Math program over BookNook’s synchronous learning platform. The company launched a new teacher application portal at booknooktutor.com in October 2021, giving experienced teachers the opportunity to apply to become BookNook virtual tutors on its platform. BookNook intends to engage 10,000 virtual teachers to support 80,000 students by the end of the 2021-2022 school year.

BookNook

Story2 uses its proprietary Moments Method writing system, its StoryBuilder software, and live online group coaching to help high school students and professionals improve their writing, speaking, storytelling, and collaboration skills.The company aims to help different segments with their specific needs: students with college admission and scholarship essays, professionals preparing for interviews and creating cover letters, and business teams to improve sales, recruiting and company messaging through effective storytelling.Since 2013, Story2 has worked with more than 200,000 individuals in 21 countries with college admission essays, interview preparation, and pitching ideas. The company is expanding into China and India in 2020 and plans to focus on helping science and technology students improve their communication and leadership skills.

Story2

<div>
 
 Vooks offers a subscription-based, ad-free curated library of children's books converted to video with narration and some slow-paced animation, allowing children to read along while watching. Aimed at young children aged 6 months to 8 years, Vooks promotes reading aloud to develop fluency and comprehension. The company was founded by siblings Marshall Bex and Shannon Bex, and Russell Hirtzel, and is reportedly the first-ever streaming service for books with illustrations, read-along text and animations.
 
 
 In February 2020, Vooks raised USD 12 million in Series A funding; however, the investors and purpose of the funding were not disclosed. In November 2020, the company raised USD 21.9 million in equity investments from more than 30 investors.
 
 
 In November 2020, Vooks partnered with United Way of Metropolitan Dallas (UWMD), a community-based, nonprofit social change organization, and Atmos Energy, a natural gas distributor, to provide around 78,000 one-year Vooks subscriptions for children aged 3 to 6 and early education teachers in the Greater Dallas area. The program is funded by a USD 1 million contribution from Atmos Energy, and contributes to UWMD’s Aspire United 2030 education goal of increasing the number of North Texas students reading at grade level by third grade by 50%. Similarly, in March 2021, the company partnered with Reach Out and Read Of Greater New York (ROR GNY), a nonprofit organization of healthcare providers who promote early literacy. The partnership aims to provide more than 75,000 preschool children with one-year Vooks subscriptions starting in March 2021.
 
 
 In July 2021, it was reported that Vooks is offering its service to authors and producers as a way of quickly testing ideas with audiences through simple animated shorts. Thereby, Vooks expands its library of original content while authors and producers get real-time performance data.
 
</div>

Vooks

Xeropan offers an AI-powered, game-based approach to learning English through 14 of the most widely-spoken languages. As of October 2020, the app had more than one million players.

Xeropan

<div>
 
 GoGuardian is a provider of student security software solutions to help educators identify learning patterns, protect students from harmful and distracting content, and support students at risk of self-harm and suicide. As of August 2021, the company had partnered with more than 10,000 schools in the US, covering more than 22 million students.  
 
 
 In November 2020, GoGuardian announced a 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/1863">
 merger with Pear Deck
 </a>
 to deepen the support provided to students and teachers and improve their in-class experience. Founded in 2014, Pear Deck is a student engagement platform that allows teachers to create, edit, and launch multimedia content and formative assessments on students' devices to increase student engagement. At the time of the merger, Pear Deck was used by 8 million educators and students in more than 17,000 schools worldwide. Pear Deck co-founder and Chief Educator, Michal Eynon-Lynch, will join the GoGuardian Board of Directors. In May 2022, the company acquired 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10683">
 TutorMe,
 </a>
 Zovio’s tutoring services business, for USD 55 million in cash to strengthen its product offering. 
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In August 2021, GoGuardian secured a USD 200 million investment from Tiger Global Management. The funds will be allocated for product innovation, talent acquisition, and business development. 
 
 
 
</div>

GoGuardian

Businesses providing education delivery solutions such as learning management systems (LMS), and tech solutions for data analytics, administration, and other services to educational institutions.

Businesses delivering curriculum-based learning, particularly relating to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education to educational institutions and individual students.

Mostly for-profit corporations running state-funded, tuition-free schools as an alternative to traditional public schools.

Businesses providing extra-curricular education relating to the arts, hobbies, and life skills, and entities providing college and career guidance.

Businesses delivering English language arts (ELA) education, and language learning and literacy support to educational institutions and individual students.

Platforms providing students with after-school tutoring support on an individual or group basis.

Businesses delivering early childhood education, special education, and social-emotional learning (SEL) programs to educational institutions and individual students.

Entities providing professional development resources and tools for teachers, and those providing testing and assessment solutions to educational institutions and educators.

Platforms providing student-parent-teacher-school communication and networking solutions, and those providing search, reference, and marketplace solutions.

Companies that use GenAI as a core part of their product offering for EdTech: K12 solutions

Adaptive learning platforms, personalized learning plans, and AI-powered analytics provide insight into student performance

Learning platforms that promote an inclusive and equitable educational culture for underserved communities

Uses AI/ML to create personalized learning plans, adaptive learning platforms, and intelligent tutoring systems

Intellispark

About EDGE

Contact Us

Resources

Area of Focus

Technology Research Made Effortless